Climate change: warm words and cool waters

Last week’s report that the current “pause” in global warming could be linked to cyclic cooling in the Pacific will be interpreted by climate sceptics as evidence that global warming isn’t happening, and by politicians as a reason to forget about climate change and carry on with business as usual. Both responses would be dangerously wrong.

Fracking brings climate debate closer to home

Many of those who deny that climate change is taking place reached that position as a result of their opposition to windfarms. This, for example, was the route taken by David Bellamy, who stumbled disastrously into the debate a decade ago.

During one of our discussions, he set me the following challenge:

“Why are the so-called greens backing a cartel of multinational companies which are hell bent on covering some of the best of our countryside with so-called windfarms, which can neither provide us with a sustainable source of future energy nor have any measurable effect reducing the amount of carbon dioxide pouring into the atmosphere? If he [George Monbiot] can disprove the latter – which is the mathematical truth – I will fall into line over global warming”.

Climate leaks are ‘misleading’ says IPCC ahead of major report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned against drawing too many conclusions from the latest leaked version of its upcoming, and eagerly awaited, Assessment Report 5 (AR5).

This massive tome will be published in four stages over the next year – the first part, the physical science behind climate change, will be presented in Stockholm on 26 September.

Can China clean up fast enough?

HELL is a city much like London—a populous and a smoky city,” wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819. It is a description that would suit many Chinese cities today for, like Britain in the early 19th century, China is going through an industrial-powered growth spurt. Like Britain back then, the urge to get rich outweighs the desire for clean air, so the Chinese are chucking all manner of filth into the atmosphere. And, rather sooner than Britain did, China is beginning to clean up its act (see article).

Climate change: Global IQ valuta gli impatti socio-economici

Le profonde conseguenze che il climate change ha e avrà sull’ambiente sono ormai facilmente prevedibili. Modelli computerizzati ci permettono già oggi di affrontare una serie di scenari futuri e capire gli effetti di questo cambiamento. Meno chiari invece sono gli impatti che il clima è in grado di determinare a livello socio-economico. Per approfondire questo tema è nato il progetto di ricerca europeo GLOBAL-IQ (“Impact Quantification of Global Changes”) finanziato con 2,7 milioni di euro dall’UE e condotto da un team di 11 istituti di ricerca europei ubicati in otto paesi diversi.